Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope is one of only five sites in the nation that has received a contract to manufacture novel cell therapies for heart, lung and blood diseases for use in preclinical trials.

Over the next five years, City of Hope will receive $872,000 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for administrative costs to establish a cell processing facility for production assistance for cellular therapies. City of Hope will also manufacture cell therapies for researchers nationwide who are working on new treatments for a wide range of diseases with limited options, including hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, coronary heart disease and pulmonary diseases.

The NHLBI has also established a $45 million pool for researchers nationwide to apply for services supporting the development of new cell therapies for preclinical trials. It is anticipated that City of Hope’s manufacturing will bring its total contract value to $9 million over five years.

“City of Hope is one of the premier national research facilities manufacturing biologic and chemical compounds that meet strict standards,” said Larry W. Kwak, M.D., Ph.D., the Dr. Michael Friedman Professor in Translational Medicine and associate director for translational research and developmental therapeutics at City of Hope. “Our commitment to building the best academic GMP manufacturing facilities helps us turn breakthrough discoveries into lifesaving therapies.”

City of Hope houses three manufacturing facilities on campus that produce biologic and chemical compounds to good manufacturing practice standards. These standards follow strict U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines aimed at producing high quality and safe therapies for consumers.

Baylor College of Medicine, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, University of Miami and University of Minnesota also received NHLBI contracts.